There is a saying, ‘health is wealth’. Without health you have no wealth. Caring for your body is essential because when the body is diseased and weak you cannot realize truth. When you feed your body the wrong foods you are creating imbalance in your health. Be aware that this life is very precious because it has taken 8.4 million lives for you to take on human form. It means your journey started as bacteria.

Actually, the lowest form of life is algae. Algae is green, contains cells that are the beginnings of life. These cells have soul but they are not developed yet. They are in the form of bacteria and there are an infinite number of them. You need to respect this earliest form of life. Wherever it is green do not step on it or destroy it. In order to survive we need bacteria. The body has millions of bacteria. Many good bacteria exist along with bad ones. The bad bacteria cause disease if the body’s immune system is not strong. Good bacteria perform the important function of maintaining balance in the health of the body. In order to create a miracle in your life you need health.

I have seen in many families people pray before eating their food. They give thanks for the food that is before them. I say that you need to go further. You need to thank all the bacteria that sustain your body. Anything you eat, it is bacteria. In Sanskrit health is Swastha, which means to be with you. As a human you have soul. This soul is separate from the body. The body is not light because it is touchable. The soul, which is light, is untouchable. For example, you live in a house; the house is separate from you. Soul is like light but it cannot be described as the light that you see. The light that you see only illuminates objects. It does not know itself. The soul, Atma knows itself and knows others. It is a witness. It is consciousness. It can separate itself from the body and observe.

People ask, ‘how can I love this world that is imperfect’? The world will never be perfect and you cannot wait for it to be so. If you do you will never be loved and can never increase your love. You can make things perfect by loving. You can make the world perfect by expanding your love. Begin by loving nature. Love the rivers, stars, and moon, the trees and the rocks. Do not control your emotions like anger. Suppression will create poison and sickness. It can kill a person. Everyone has positive and negative qualities. Increase your positive side, your sympathy, non-violence and meditation. Don’t control; just increase your love. And to be healthy you have to let emotions out. Once you have expressed your emotions you are relaxed. All negativities will diminish. Desires are endless. They are like the sky. They cannot be fulfilled. Desires have negative and positive aspects. The negative aspects are that desires create tension; they are also like current running through a bulb. If you touch the current it can burn you and desires make a man naked and poor. But desires have their positive side because desires make the universe flow. They are an excuse for existence. They are like the spider web that holds all things together and alive. If you focus on increasing your good qualities your life will be completely transformed and desires will be finished. In all situations take the positive path. There are negatives as well as positives to every situation. You can choose the negative but be aware that it will not help you raise yourself. You can look in the mirror and see your defects.

You might not like your hair; your wrinkles and you end up seeing yourself as ugly. The mirror is only showing you your image. Yet if you change your thoughts the mirror will reflect the change. You need not suppress your thoughts or emotions, just increase your love and compassion. All those negativities will dissolve. I am reminded of the incident in Idlewild, at the children’s camp. I drew a line on the blackboard and I asked the children if they could make the line shorter without touching it. It was puzzling for them. They did not know how. Then I showed them by drawing a line underneath that was longer. Unexpectedly the first line became shorter. By the effort of emphasizing only the affirmative and increasing it, in due course, the negative disappears and you draw nearer to God. You cannot work on your ego and anger; they will dissolve by themselves. I say that you can get closer to God because you and God are not separate. God is in you. You just need to come closer to your soul. When your soul consciousness is raised you are not far from God. You will know many things. In actuality enlightenment is very easy. Give a little time every day to be still and meditate. Even a few seconds of meditation bring you closer to enlightenment. You will experience things that will be incredible to you. I am not telling you the bitter truth because truth is hard to handle but meditation will bring you into a blissful state.

In order to increase consciousness you need to focus your attention inward. To turn attention inward is to meditate. Of all the religions the way to achieve nirvana according to the Jain scriptures is the easiest one. If you can be still for 48 minutes only, you can reach enlightenment. When you are with you 100% all doors will open and when you connect with your soul many amazing things will happen. I am not asking you to meditate for 24 hours. That is not a possibility because life in society requires that you engage in many forms of activity. Even a few seconds of complete silence or meditation will give you inner vision. It is difficult to meditate because the mind creates thoughts. There are thousands of thoughts at a given time. The mind is a market place of ideas. Whatever number of thoughts you are holding there are as many possibilities. Out of these thoughts you can choose ones that you want to actualize. Imagination comes before visualization. If you can imagine, you can visualize and if you can visualize you can drive the process forward to actualizing your thought. Science fiction is an example of this. It starts with imagination. Then it is visualized and finally actualized as written text or film. Actualization is not realization however, because it is concrete. Realization is a knowing that belongs to the soul, not to the mind. If you can drop your thoughts and be with yourself for even a few moments a day you will be Swastha. The other is hell as Neitzche said. You are always with the other. You are always with your thoughts. You are never with yourself; you go to work, you watch TV, you read books, you play, you go to school and activities are endless. When you are with others, you suffer. Either you are present or your mind is present. If you are with you 24 hours you are a Jesus or a Buddha. There is no difference between you and them.

The first Tirthankar, Adi Nath, who was king over the world, as it existed then, went to the forest when he reached old age to do tapas. He turned his kingdom over to his eldest son Bharata, who ruled all of India. India is also known by his name, Bharata. One day Adi Nath returned to the city where he was speaking to a seated crowd. His mother, Marudevi, heard of his visit and expressed her desire to Bharata to see him. Bharata, prepared his most precious white elephant for her to ride on. As she approached the place where Adi Nath was speaking she noticed him from her high position on the elephant. Adi Nath knew who was coming and without looking to see he slowly turned his back to her. When she witnessed this she became deeply affected. She turned her thought process to herself and she knew what she needed to do. She began to think to herself that ‘my son is not really my son; I am not his mother. We come to this world alone and we have to leave alone, nothing and no one belongs to us’. She became very still and very peaceful. The experience led her to the deepest core of her being and she, also being of old age, achieved nirvana while she was still riding on the elephant. Adi Nath, wanted very much for his mother to achieve nirvana and he knew that her time was up in this world. He facilitated the conditions for her to reach it.

You need not go to the forest to get enlightenment because when you go to the forest your mind is with you. You and all your desires are with you. You have to leave your mind behind wherever you are. You need to be with yourself and when you understand yourself you understand others. If you are ready to know yourself it will not take you a long time. It can just happen – only 48 minutes a day is not a long time.

In order to reach perfection, begin working on increasing your compassion and your love. Just simply love without expectation. The closer you get to nature the closer you are to your soul, to God and your love can grow from there to expand to the universe. God is expanded consciousness.